Sometimes a doorstep isn't just a doorstep . . .

 It's a tombstone!

Slate tombstone of Christopher Neale, 1784. Photo by author, 1980.

by John B. Green III

When I was a kid, my grandmother had a neighbor and friend named Mrs. J.S. Miller. Mrs. Miller lived in a large two-story house that stood across Neuse Boulevard from my grandmother's home. Although I didn't know it at the time, Mrs. Miller's home had replaced an earlier house that had been the center of a large plantation that had existed from the late 18th century through the mid-19th century. 

J.S. Miller House, formerly located at 1813 Neuse Blvd. Photo c. 1980.

My grandmother would sometimes take me along on her visits to see Mrs. Miller.  On one such visit, we followed Mrs. Miller through her kitchen and out the back door to see a  prized flower growing in the yard.  When we turned to go back into the house, Mrs. Miller cautioned me to step very carefully and respectfully on the large stone doorstep.  She explained that her late husband had salvaged the stone from an old cemetery that had once existed on the farm.  He had placed it face down to  hide the inscription.  It had served as the kitchen doorstep for many years.  My thoughts at this moment ran something like this: A tombstone? You mean, like dead people have? Is it haunted?  Is there a ghost? 

When we got back to my grandmother's house, I peppered her with questions.  She said that Mrs. Miller was telling the truth.  My grandmother remembered an old family graveyard that had stood near Mrs. Miller's house, and that it had been destroyed when the road had been widened. Wow!

Time passed. My grandmother died in 1973, and Mrs. Miller died in 1979, leaving the property empty and for sale.  By this time, I had graduated from college, worked as an archaeologist in Georgia, as an archivist and microfilm camera operator for the State Archives, and was working on a book about New Bern's history.  The property eventually was sold to a billboard company who, in 1980, offered all the buildings on the property to the New Bern Preservation Foundation.  I had never forgotten the story of the doorstep/tombstone and knew that the heavy equipment that would be used to move the buildings would damage or destroy it.  I couldn't let that happen.

 Christopher Neale tombstone. The inscription reads as follows: In Memory of/ Christopher Neale Esqr./ who departed this life/ Novr. [5], 1784, aged 47 years,/4 months and 27 days./ If you knew t[    ]an, remember.

Late one afternoon, I drove into Mrs. Miller's backyard and around to the kitchen door.  There was the doorstep just as I had remembered it.  Now, bear in mind that I was trespassing, and contemplating, for the noblest of historical and preservation purposes, making off with that stone.  The large stone was made of a thick slab of gray slate. I managed to lever it onto its edge long enough to see the name Christopher Neale and the date 1784. 

I knew that Neale had held a number of public offices in New Bern and Craven County, including assemblyman, militia captain at the Battle of Alamance, town treasurer, member of North Carolina's Fifth Provincial Congress, and Craven County Clerk of Court. His tombstone ought to be preserved, but it was too heavy for me to move by myself.  I needed an accomplice.  Naturally, I called Miss Gertrude.

Warrant signed  in 1784 by Christopher Neale as Clerk of Court of Craven County. Author's collection.

Gertrude Sprague Carraway, New Bern historian, journalist, author, former President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and first director of the Tryon Palace restoration effort, knew exactly what to do.  The next day, a Tryon Palace truck and two Tryon Palace groundsmen met me at Mrs. Miller's old home.  In short order, they had Christopher Neale's tombstone loaded into the truck and on its way to Tryon Palace. There it would be placed on a new brick foundation in the "Wilderness" area of the river-side gardens of the Palace.  Although the stone had been saved, its presence in the gardens never really made much interpretive sense and was difficult to explain to the average visitor. There it remained, however, for more than ten years, before being uprooted, for the third time in its history, and moved to storage. 

And so, dear readers, I will close with this question: When was the last time you took a good, hard look at your back doorstep?  It might not be what it seems.

The Things that Walk in the Door!

 Recent donations to the Kellenberger Room

Photograph, 300 block of Pollock Street,  looking west, ca.1900. Photographer unknown.

by John B. Green III

The Kellenberger Room is both a local history room and a family-history research center.  We are always on the lookout for appropriate materials to add to our collections and are always delighted when such items walk in the door in the hands of generous donors.  Here is a selection of recent donations.

"An act for granting further aid to his Majesty, to repel the French, and Indians in their alliance, from their encroachment on his Majesty's territories in America and other purposes." North Carolina Assembly, Session of November 1754, New Bern, NC.

We start with the oldest item: nine dis-bound leaves, pages 113-132, of the Acts of the North Carolina Assembly that cover the years 1754 to 1760.  There were several collections of the laws of North Carolina published in the 18th and early 19th centuries.  These pages are possibly from one of the collections of the laws compiled in the first decade of the 19th century and published in New Bern by Francois Xavier Martin.  Martin, a native of  Marseille, France, and later a resident of Martinique, moved to New Bern in the 1780s.  He taught French and learned the printing trade before studying law. He later moved to Louisiana where he served as that state's first Attorney General. The page shown contains a 1754 act to provide money to help fight the French and Indian War.

Engraved portrait of William H. Washington, ca.1855.

The next item is a pamphlet made by binding, in plain paper, six dis-bound pages of a biographical sketch of William H. Washington (1813-1860), New Bern attorney and member of Congress.  Shown here is the engraved portrait of Washington, which serves as a frontispiece for the article. The article may have been removed from one of the biographical works compiled by John Livingston and published in New York in the 1850s.

Photograph of the 200 block of  Middle Street, looking south, ca. 1900. Photographer unknown.

 

The third donation consists of two photographs. The first, seen at the beginning of this post, is of the 300 block of Pollock Street, looking west, ca. 1900.  The second, seen here, is a photograph of the 200 block of  Middle Street, looking south, ca. 1900. The photographer, in both instances,  is unknown.

New Bern, North Carolina, Founded by De Graffenried in 1710, Colonial New Bern, New Bern of Today, by Emma H. Powell, 1905. 

The fourth item is a booklet entitled New Bern, North Carolina, Founded by De Graffenried in 1710, Colonial New Bern, New Bern of Today, by Emma H. Powell and published in 1905.  The booklet is both a history of the town as well as a promotional item displaying the modern amenities of New Bern. Seen here is a page from the historical section.  The top photograph shows a table, clock, and teapot which  survived in New Bern and had traditions of having been part of the original furnishings of Tryon Palace.  The bottom photograph shows the 18th century communion silver of Christ Episcopal Church.

The Athenian, November 1911.

The last item is the November 1911 edition of The Athenian, the student literary publication of New Bern High School.  The lead article is by future New Bern historian, Gertrude S. Carraway, entitled "Some Unmarked Historic Spots in New Bern and Vicinity," and is probably the first published article by Miss Carraway.